Good Samaritans save elderly woman injured in monsoon storm

They saw her on the side of the road in the pouring rain after she'd fallen and hurt herself.

Author:
Rich Prange

Published:
12:00 PM PST July 18, 2017

PHOENIX - Anya and Darr Kadlubowski went out for a late-night snack Sunday night. On the way back through Ahwatukee, a monsoon storm picked up, littering the streets with branches and debris.

“It was crazy raining last night. The wind was blowing everywhere,” said Darr Kadlubowski.

On the drive, the siblings stopped several times to pull branches out of the road so other drivers wouldn’t run into them.

“Every single trash can we saw was knocked over. There was just trash everywhere,” said Anya Kadlubowski.

Among all the debris and chaotic storm conditions, the siblings saw what appeared to be a child lost in the storm. When they pulled over to see if they could help, they discovered it was an elderly woman sitting by the curb in the pouring rain.

“It looked like she had broken her leg or hip. I made sure it wasn't a spinal injury because you can't move someone with a spinal injury, but when I saw she was able to move her legs, she was just in a lot of pain,” said Darr.

With the woman's permission, he carried her home and called the paramedics.

“She was going out to move her trash cans, because she had seen they had fallen over. Apparently when she had grabbed one of them, the wind had blown at the same time. So (the wind) pulled her and the trash can over,” said Anya.

The condition and the identity of the woman is unknown at this time. Anya and Darr say they had never met their neighbor before Sunday night but they are glad they could help when they did.

“Whether they are your next-door neighbor or across the country, just, everyone needs to help each other,” said Anya Kadlubowski.